Resolute Love
by krysty508
Summary: Season 8 and later. Jackie and Hyde can't get over their relashionship as much as they let on...what I think happened between the two when no one was looking. Rated for language and smut in ch2. Don't own That 70s show. Promise happy JH endings.
1. Chapter 1

Resolute Love

They never actually finished with their relationship; it was just too easy to keep it secret. Sam was usually in Vegas since there were few stripper jobs in Point Place. They had kept a secret relationship before they got caught making out in the basement by Eric and Donna. They decided since then that they'd leave their make-out sessions for the bedroom.

No one had a clue they were seeing each other. They were constantly bickering, constantly fighting, constantly at each others throats, even more so than when they first met. It was all an act.

It happened shortly after Hyde came back, bringing with him a new wife. Jackie was heartbroken. She was angry at herself for letting Kelso be such an asshole and for not having the foresight to see how Hyde would react to seeing Kelso there. It broke her heart even more knowing, this time, the incident wouldn't be so easily forgotten. She cried for days, not allowing anyone to see her. Donna had told her he was drunk when they got married, but that wasn't an excuse. She was done crying. She was pissed now and she would let him know exactly how much.

The day after her extremely embarrassing show at the club, she stormed into the basement, the crumbly wooden door slamming behind her. Hyde was the only one there, which at least meant they could say whatever the wanted to each other without a third party getting involved. He continued to stare at the TV until she spoke, then he turned to face her.

"What the hell, Hyde!?" She refused to use his first name. She didn't call him by her first name before they started going out, she wouldn't now that he was married to another woman. "How the hell could you get so drunk that you marry a stripper!?" she screamed at him, "and every time I brought up anything to do with marriage you did everything in your power to ignore the subject completely!?" She threw her purse at him and grabbed for one of the pillows on the couch.

As she stood there screaming, he couldn't held the urge to embrace her, to hold her tight and kiss her until she understood that she was the only woman for him. It didn't help that her face was becoming red with fury, her eyes became daggers, and that shrill voice that used to give him goose bumps now screamed with anger. It also didn't help that he found her so damn hot whenever she was so pissed off. It wasn't until her purse hit his chest that the enchantment wore off and he became immensely aware of the words she was saying.

"Are you even listening to me!?" He tried to stand up as she threw the pillow at him and grabbed another from the couch. "You could have broken up with me! You could have drunk yourself into a coma! You could have slept with fifty damn nurses! But what do you do!? You go to Vegas and marry a fucking god damned stripper!" Item after item was thrown and after several attempts to protect himself from the flying projectiles, Hyde found himself backed up against the freezer as one last beer can hit him in the head.

Hyde lowered his defensive stance to see Jackie still fuming, panting. With one arm out in front of her from when she threw the beer can. She stood up strait and stared at the ground as she waited for his response. There was silence for a moment before he started walking towards her. She raised her eyes to meet his with shear determination. She wasn't backing down, he could see that. His eyes were still covered by his aviator shades. 'Damn those stupid sunglasses!' Jackie thought as she glared at him.

He stopped a foot in front of her and looked into her miss matched eyes. He had so much to say to her, but was never able to put his thoughts into words. This was another one of those moments. His usual way of telling her something would probably get him slapped by several different women in this situation, but it was all he could think to do, and honestly all he wanted to do.

He brought his hand up to cup her cheek and delicately leaned down to kiss her lips. Jackie only stood there, surprised by his reaction to her previous tantrum. She slowly regained her composure and started moving away. Hyde wouldn't let her go though. He wrapped his free arm around her waist and placed his hand on the small of her back, forcing her into the kiss. Hyde licked her bottom lip tentatively, asking permission for entrance. She knew what he wanted but refused to give in. She didn't want to be swayed by him again. 'He has a wife,' she told herself. 'This is wrong.' She repeated these thoughts in her mind to keep herself from responding... until he suddenly took a slight nibble of bottom lip. She gasped in surprise, allowing her mouth to open just enough for his tongue to slip through. Jackie lost control as she felt his tongue explore her mouth, almost greedily. She unconsciously moaned and snaked her arms around to his neck. Her head became foggy and her pervious determination to remain stoic was lost.

He heard her moan at his touch and he felt a jolt of excitement run through his body. The kiss became more passionate as both relished in the missed feeling of their joined lips. Their breathing became heavy and soon they broke apart. Jackie's arms hung loosely around Hyde's body as his arms hugged her closer, possessively. He nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck and spoke softly into her skin.

"I'm Sorry," he said. He knew he wronged her and that she was innocent of any wrong doing he thought she might have done. "I was stupid and rash. I jumped to conclusions even though I know you wouldn't do something like that and Kelso is just a stupid asshole." He lowered his voice even more to a barely audible whisper. "I went and got drunk and then married some random stripper that I could never truly care about."


	2. Chapter 2

This is my first ever smut so I'd like to know what you think, tell me.... also, the M on my keybored isn't working too well, so sorry if I missed any.

Disclaimer: I don't own That 70's Show. If I did, Sam wouldn't exsist, Hyde and Jackie would have eloped after Chicago and then had the big wedding like Jackie wanted.

Jackie's chest tightened as she took in Hyde's words. The idea flickered across her mind that he was just playing her, but he was never able to lie, not even the smallest little white lie would escape his lips to sound truthful. Tears made their way to her eyes, whether from joy or sorrow she didn't know.

He pulled away and looked her in the eyes again holding her shoulders to keep her looking at him. "I'm sorry," he whispered again. She looked from one shaded eye to the other and back again before moving forward and kissing him again with as much passion as before. He kissed her back immediately and held her close enough so she could feel his erection through their jeans. He started shifting her around the couch and into his bedroom. She didn't protest. After all, she was as aroused as him. The forbidness is what first started their relationship, and what was more forbidden than a man who was already married?

He closed the door behind them with his foot and pushed her up against the door. Hyde's hand stroked her lower back as he started to suck and nibble her neck. Jackie let out an involuntary moan and arched her back at his touch. His hand slipped under the hem of her shirt and started to move upward.

"What about Sam?" Jackie whispered as her shirt was pulled over her head.

Hyde lowered head so that his lips were right next to her ear. "What about her?" he whispered back before gently tugging on her earlobe with his teeth.

Jackie struggled to keep her thoughts together at the sensation of his hot breath, trying to make sense of their current situation. "She's your wife," she stated.

He let go of her ear. "Yes, she is," he said, "And I couldn't care less about it." He started kissing her neck again, then moving his lips down, past her collar bone to the valley between her breasts where he stopped only because of the lacy white bra she was still wearing.

His jeans began to stretch tighter around his hardened cock as Jackie tilted her head back against the door and moaned. Her pleasure sent a delightful chill down his spine. He could feel his pulse racing through his body as he continued to ravish the beauty before him. She tugged at the back of his shirt indicating her desire for its removal. He quickly complied and continued to let his hands travel he petite body before allowing one to seize her ass and the other to fiddle with the hooks of her bra.

Her hands travel up and down his back and chest, tracing every muscle with her fingers. She curved her back so he could undo her bra, their bare skin meeting. "Steven," she whispered, her mind only flickering with rational thoughts as she wondered where one particular skanky blonde whore was and if she would be walking through the makeshift bedroom door anytime soon. "What if she catches us?" she asked.

"She went to Pricemart with Mrs. Foreman," he whispered and kissed her neck again. "They won't be back 'til later this afternoon."

The rational thought fled from her mind as she kissed him fervently. Her hands traced his muscles again as her right leg wrapped around his waist. He removed her bra and let it fall to the growing pile of clothes on the floor. She pulled his head down in another possessive kiss. He groaned into her mouth and began trailing kisses down to her breasts again, this time continuing to her right nipple. His right hand fondled her left breast. Jackie impatiently ground her hips next to his, feeling his member stiffen at the contact through their jeans. He moaned into her breast causing a vibration to run through her body. A pleading sigh escaped her lips as she continued to rock against him. He needed to be inside her soon.

He pulled her closer to him, supporting her weight with his own body, and swung them around to the bed. No sooner had they landed with the loud creaking of the springs did they lock lips. She started taking off his belt while unwinding her legs from around his waist to kick off the cream colored heels she wore. He continued to ravish her with his mouth, kissing any part of her body he could reach while unbuttoning her jeans and pulling them down to her ankles, leaving her clad in nothing but her soaked through panties. They were soon disposed of as well. He stroked her sensitive skin and massaged her clit before plunging two fingers deep inside her.

"Oh god!" she cried, her juices leaking out of her, coating her hand in a thick layer of her essence. He pulled his fingers out and plunged them in again causing a similar reaction. "Steven!" her sex tightened around his fingers. "I need you inside me," she whispered seductively, pulling of his jeans and boxers, letting them fall to his ankles where they were immediately kicked off alone with his boots. He pulled his fingers out of her and climbed on the bed, positioning himself over her. She widened her legs, allowing him access. He thrust his length inside her with a groan.

"Fuck, Jackie," he grunted. Their bodies readjusted to each other easily as they savored the reconnection. Hyde started sliding out almost all the way before thrusting into her ore forcefully. Jackie moved her hips with his and wrapped her legs around his waist, her heals digging into his backside, forcing him to go further. His thrusts continued, becoming more erratic. She matched his movements with her own, voicing her pleasure with every moan. She screamed in ecstasy as he hit her g-spot. "Oh...Oh god...Steven!"

He continued to hit her g-spot "god, Jackie" he groaned. They were coming to the end. He became more vigorous with his thrusts until her orgasm hit, her sex tightening around him in climax.

"Yes, yes, oh god, Steven!" she cried

He drove inside her a few more times before releasing. "Jackie!"

They collapsed onto the bed shaking and panting, neither one having the energy to move. He slid out of her and landed on his back next to her. They lay there, coming down from their euphoric high as rational thought slowly trickled back into their minds, Jackie's mind quicker than Hyde's.


	3. Chapter 3

Reveiws make me happy, being happy makes me want to write, so this is way earlier than I intended to post this chapter. If you keep reviewing, I'll keep writing!!! More Reveiws, Please!

Disclaimer: I don't own That 70's Show, nor any candy companies.

They lied in his bed, naked except for the thin sheet that covered then. Jackie's breathing had relaxed now and her mind came back to reality. She threw the sheets off her and started to dress in her discarded clothes.

As Hyde watched her he felt compelled to ask, "Where are you going?" Like it mattered, she was leaving again and he didn't want her to.

She was sitting on the bed putting her shoes back on. "This can't happen again," she stated plainly. No questions asked; no questions answered. Was it really that simple for her?

"What do you mean?" he asked, although her statement was pretty self-explanatory.

"Your married," she said while straitening her outfit and combing her hair in the small mirror. "It's not fair to any of us, and you know that," she walked out the door leaving him alone in the room.

She made a second appearance in the basement later that day, making it perfectly clear to him and all their friends that they were completely through, but as much as she wanted to stay away from him, they always found themselves alone together, usually because the others were afraid to be in the same room as them, and they always gave in to their temptation. Eventually, they fell in to a simple pattern.

Jackie would still go to the basement everyday. She told everyone it was so Hyde would see he didn't faze her. Then something would (supposedly) upset her or she would have to go to work or some other reason would cause her to leave. Later, when everyone else had left and Sam was at work, she would sneak in so she and Hyde were alone. Mr. and Mrs. Foreman rarely came into the basement anymore and Sam worked until early morning. Before she came home, Jackie would sneak back out. Sam also spent a lot of time in Vegas, since it had so many more job opportunities. On those nights, Jackie would stay the night. Fez barely ever noticed since he was almost always out trying to pick up women (and failing) or in bed earlier than she would leave.

They continued to fight in front of the others, with even more vigor than before. They burned each other every chance they got and yelled whenever they were out of burns. Everyone assumed it was because their breakup seemed to make their entire relationship crumble apart to nonexistence. It was the effect they were hoping for. Hyde and Jackie's affair continued unnoticed by a single person, and only once during an argument at the county fair did they seriously consider breaking it off. However, when they got back to the Foreman's after wandering in the woods for half the night because Fez lost Mrs. Foreman's engagement ring, they remembered that Sam was gone to Las Vegas for the night and their previous spat was lost.

Jackie realized at some point that she had become Hyde's mistress and before now she would have been disgusted by her own actions, but she decided that in order to keep hi in her life, she was willing to be his paramour. She never questioned his relationship with Sam. She didn't want to take the chance of being thrown out of his life forever, so she watched them.

Everyday she would see them together, noticing how Sam let herself get pushed around by him. She would almost always do what she was told, but it was evident it was only so she could please him somehow. She would watch him especially, whenever his wife made some remark to having sex. Sometimes he would sit there for a moment, as if pondering whether or not to take her offer. Other times he would smirk. Not smile, smirk, like he did in high school when he knew a secret about someone in the group and used it to his advantage, like he know he was doing something wrong but found it entertaining.

He wanted to be with Jackie. He _always_ wanted to be with Jackie, but he was married to Sam. What would everyone think if him if he divorced her. That he was just like Edna or Bud? That it was somehow in his blood to be a failure at relationships? Sam was a sweet girl overall, if not a little dumb, a little naive. Basically the female version of Kelso without the gluing herself to everything. That's why he couldn't bring himself to get a divorce... what reason did he have for divorcing her? But also, what reason did he have for staying with her? He was in a catch-22, and as hard as he tried, he couldn't find a way to resolve it peacefully. So he and Jackie continued their forbidden relationship unnoticed until a guy named Larry showed up one day.

Larry was Sam's first husband, and considering they were still married, that meant her marriage to Hyde wasn't legally binding, which meant Hyde had ore than enough reason to dump her. Then why didn't he?

When Larry walked through the basement door and announced he was Sam's husband, Hyde's first thought was freedom, freedom fro his unintentional and unwanted marriage, but when Sam came out and said she fell in love with him, he started to wonder what would happen when she left. He didn't want to hurt Sam, she was a nice girl... overall. She always brought him a second beer and... Well, okay, so he couldn't think of another reason to hurt her. So he decided to go think, mainly of how to let her down easy. He had learned to care for her, too, not romantically, but still... so he needed to think of a way to not hurt himself. But before he could sort out his feeling for the situation, a certain petite brunette heard about it.

Jackie was at work, sweeping a mess of strangers' hairs up from the salon floor when Fez came running in. "Jackie! Jackie! I know something you don't know!" announced in a mocking tone.

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Fez, for the last time, I don't want you to explain the difference between Dum Dums and Charms."

Fez pouted a little bit but continued talking. "Believe it or not, it's better! Okay, so I was in the basement with Hyde, Donna, Randy and my new," he paused for dramatic effect, raised an eyebrow and smile mischievously, "girlfriend."

Jackie interrupted him there, "you mean Hilary hasn't dumped you yet? I wonder if she has some kind of mental disease... wait, are you paying her or something?"

Fez frowned, "why does no one think I'm capable of romancing a woman!? Anyway, that's not the point," he continued. "This old guy need Larry came in and he's like old, and fat, and he said he's Samantha's husband and it's true!" Jackie's mouth was hanging open as Fez's grin spread from ear to ear. "Isn't that hilarious? Hyde's been doing another persons wife for months and he didn't know it!" he continued to smile.

Jackie listened intently to every word he said before she responded. "No, Fez, that's not funny. This is terrible news. Something like this could do permanent emotional damage to Steven Hyde," she stated. "I'm going to go on my lunch break and tell, _everyone_,"she said with exaggerated hand motions before dropping the broom, grabbing her purse and running out the door.

She didn't tell anyone though. Instead she went strait over to the basement, where she found Hyde sitting in his chair, watching TV, and drinking a beer.

"Hey," she said as she stood in front of him.

He turned his head and looked at her before turning back to the TV. "Hey."

Next Chapter: Jackie confronts Hyde about his relationship with Sam and his relashionship with her.


	4. Chapter 4

I know this chapter is really short, but the next chapter is pretty long and almost done.

Disclaimer: I don't own That 70's Show.

Hyde took a sip of his beer as Jackie walked over to the couch but didn't sit down. "So...,"

"So...," he said in return, he figured she already knew the whole story. Their friends had all been notorious for gossiping.

"Sam's already married...," she said.

There it was, _and now into the awkward conversation, _Hyde thought.

"Yep," simple answer. _Keep it simple until forced otherwise,_ he thought.

"So what are you going to do?" she asked.

"Don't know," he said.

"You don't know!?" This obviously wasn't the answer she wanted to hear.

"I'm thinking," he said.

"Thinking about what? She's a whore and you're not married to her! I don't see how the situation calls for thinking."

"Well, it does," he was getting frustrated now. Thinking was usually better done without any yelling from the brunette.

Jackie was also getting frustrated, after months of sharing him with a blond stripper; she had grown to hate their current arrangement. She wanted him for herself. "And what, prey tell," she said, "Is there to think about."

"Well, Jackie, we were supposedly married for five months," he stated.

"Yeah, but you weren't," she said, "Because she was already married, which makes the whole marriage just one big lie on her part."

Hyde stood up and looked at her. "Jackie, I know all this, alright? But Sam and I still need to figure out where that leaves us."

"It leaves you no where, because you weren't anywhere to begin with. I mean, it's not like you had feelings for her. "She looked at him. His head was bowed, eyes to the floor as if he found her new clogs the most interesting thing. She saw it then, saw how he was trying to avoid the conversation.

Hyde still starred at the ground, "Jackie,"

"Oh my god," she interrupted him. She didn't sound angry or even surprised, just a bit embarrassed. "Do you have feelings for her?" She looked up at him; he was looking at her through his sunglasses. She could feel her heart weighted down with the prelude of his answer.

"Jackie, it's not like that,"

"No, just answer me this, Steven... if I went into your room would I see her things scattered around?"

How was he supposed to answer that? The truth was yes, but he so desperately wanted it to be no. His head turned down to the floor again, as if the answer was somehow hidden on the surface of her pretty new clogs.

The gesture was enough of an answer for Jackie. "I see," she said. "I'll just leave then." She walked to the door. Hyde fallowed.

"Wait, Jackie,"

"No, Steven," once again cut off, "just... don't." She walked out and left him standing in the basement, wearing aviator sunglasses, holding an empty beer can, bathing in the light coming from the old TV where 'The Price Is Right' had just come on. He starred after her for a moment before sitting in his chair and noticing the show that was currently playing.

"Damn," he said as he got up and walked u the basement stairs, throwing the beer can over his shoulder.


	5. Chapter 5

Jackie's perfect man list... Hyde and Sam's break-up.

I paraphrased some of the lines, basically just simpifying it for the story, so you know

Disclaimer: I don't own That 70's Show.

Jackie made her way back to the salon with tears in her eyes. She felt she needed to let him go, but he wasn't hers to release. He had been stolen from her months ago, and now with nearly close the admitting feelings for Sam (which was the closest he would ever get), every feeling she had been repressing during their affair bombarded her at once. She found herself only two blocks away from the salon, pulled over to the side of the road, her vision blury from tears. She weeped, thinking over the passed few months, Every detail since Sam appeared was seen in a new light, twisted from her pervious way of veiwing the world. She saw little things Hyde did for Sam as acts of endearment, while before they were merely acts, part of a clever ruse to keep people unaware.

She sould have listened to her own words. 'It's not fair to any of us and you know it.' That's what she said, and yet it didn't change anything. They had continued with what their friends had called an abomination. it hurt her to think she could have avoided all the heartbreak if she had only listened to their friends.

She would forget about him, forget about him completely. She could have any guy she wanted. She would have any guy she wanted, and she would be happy without Steven Hyde.

Donna came over to the apartment with Fez and Hilary. The reality that Fez had a girlfriend put it into excrutiating perspective that everyone but her was in a relationship. She told Fez and Donna this.

"I need to find a guy whose not as stupid as Michel and not as wrong for me as Steven." She gasped at her sudden epiphany, the perfect way to stay away from Hyde. "I'll make a list!" she yelled. "I'll write down everything I want in a guy and then I'll find who matches up!" It was stupid, but if she made it perfectly clear to herself that Hyde was the furthest thing from her perfect man as he could get, she would be able to get over him easier. Fez made some comment about doing the same thing with candy and Donna made a comment about her ideas not being realistic, but this was a way to get him out her life. She would do what she had to forget him.

In the meantime, Hyde walked down to the basement to find his wife and husband-in-law sitting down there. The 'letting-her-down-easy' plan flew out the tiny basement window as he suddenly remembered the cause for Jackie's absence. After another squabble, one which this time did not end with make-up sex, Hyde stormed off in to his room throwing most of Sam's belongings into a corner of the room and sulking.

A few hours later, Jackie ran in to the main room of her and Fez's apartment where Donna, Fez and Hilary were sitting and talking. "Okay, stop everything! I finished my perfect man list!" She read the list out loud being interupted between each number by Hilary and Fez. She only payed attention long enough to know when she could start talking again. After the third and final requirement was listed for her perfect man, Fez and Hilary went to his room.

Jackie was proud of herself for how well she had avoided characteristics that reminded her of Hyde. Number one was 'he must be a gentleman,' completely opposite of Hyde. He was always slinging her over his shoulder and shoving her out the door. Number three was 'an intrest in women's shoes,' which most guys would cringe away from, and if she was being honest with herself she would know the only reason that one was even on the list was to counter number two on her list. the one that stated he needed to have a great sense of humor. It wouldn't have occured to her if she hadn't remembered how completely stupid most of Kelso's jokes had been. A sense of humor was crutial, it showed the person was smart, and Hyde was smart. It put a damper on the list, but women's shoes made everything better.

"Oh my god," Donna interupted Jackie's thoughts. "Jackie, do you realize who fits everything on your list?"

"Yeah," Jackie said. "Elton John, and I think he's single 'cause you never see him out with a girl."

"No," Donna said to a now excited Jackie. "Fez."

Jackie started to question Donna's sanity and after a brief argument Jackie stormed out of the room leaving a mocking Donna behind.

_I can't have my perfect man list pointing to Fez,_ Jackie thought to herself. _I'm gonna have to add to this list._

Half and hour later, Hilary had left and Randy had come over. Donna sat on the couch and Jackie sat next to her. Donna had explained how Jackie's perfect man list described Fez.

"Look, just because Fez matches a few things on my list doesn't mean he's my perfect man. There are plenty of things on this list." Jackie went on to explain the newly added numbers four, five, and six. "He complaments me, buys me presents and comes when I call, and none of that describes Fez."

"Did you call me?" Fez had just appeared behind the couch when Jackie said his name. After she told him she didn't call him, he complamented her and gave her a present before leaving the apartment. Everyone sat dumbfounded on the couch until Randy spoke up. "Wow that was weird."

_How could this have happened_ Jackie thought to herself. She had only writen down the last three to get away from Fez. They were illogical and self-obsorbed ideas. She wasn't thinking anyone would actually fit those characteristics, and of all the people to treat her like a princess it was the person who had the least reason to, the person she had ignored for years while he chased after her. He wasn't supposed to match her list. He wasn't supposed to be her perfect man. The list itself was only to get away from Hyde, and while she had accomplished that, she hadn't acctually planned to find someone to match the list, especially someone she already knew. She ended up thinking about the stupid list most of the night, only getting a few hours of restless sleep.

That same night, Hyde went to the strip club for once not because of the dancing girls and beer... well, not _only_ because of the dancing girls and beer. He mainly wanted to talk to Sam. He wasn't surprised to see Larry in a dark corner with some tall red-head on his lap. Sam was on stage in a skimpy catholic school girl outfit.

Hyde got a beer at the bar and stood near the left stage exit. She saw him standing there and let one of the other girls have center while she walked to him. She sat on the edge of the stage as he leaned against the wall.

"We need to talk," he said.

Sam stared at the club floor, "Your divorcing me, arn't you?" she said before looking at him sadly.

"Well, technically you have to be married to someone before you can divorce them. I'd say I'm breaking up with you but we were never really dating either, but considering everything that's happened, I think it would be a mistake if we stayed together."

"Yeah," Sam said. "I thought you might say something like that." She stood up back on the stage. "I'll pack my things tomorrow morning."

"No rush," Hyde said after her. "I wouldn't mind one more roll a round on the breakfast table," his tone had turned teasing and playful. Sam smiled at him. "I'll say goodbye before I leave."

"'Kay," Hyde said as Sam hopped back to center stage and finished her act.

The next day, Hyde helped Mr. Foreman clean out the muffler shop since, thanks to Muffler Master, Red now had enough money to retire. Sam came in and said goodbye to him like she said she would. Hyde watched her leave, but the only emotion he felt for her was the guilt for stringing her along. Although, considering she was the one with a second husband, it should have been the other way around, but at least he found out about Larry. He preferred that than not knowing. By the end of the day, he and Mr. Foreman had so many beers they ended up stumbleing home from the muffler shop.

Please, Please please please PLEASE! people, tell me if your out there reading this. I know it's not that good, but if I have even two people reading it's worth it!!!! So please make yourself known or I'll lose interest in the story and stop writing and I really don't want to!

Next Chapter: Jackie confronts her bizarre and, lets face it, unnatural feelings for Fez which I storngly believe were bought on by a case of temporary insanity. It's not that he's not a nice guy, on the contrary, besides being overly perverse, he's probably the nice guy of the group, and because of that he simply can't handle Jackie's demanding attitude. Okay, I'll stop now.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey, thanks to the people who told me they're reading. If hope to have the next chapter up next week but I'll be on vacation and I don't know how easy it'll be to get on a computer, but I'll try.

Disclaimer: I Don't own That 70's Show.

The whole day, Jackie couldn't stop thinking about Fez and her perfect man list, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized he had always fit those qualities. She felt rediculous that she hadn't seen it before. It also didn't help that she had a dream about them, him as the Beast/Prince Charming and her as Beauty. It also hadn't helped that he woke her up duing this dream only to be called back to his room by Hilary. It only caused more confusion to her as she realized he wasn't available for her, unlike when she didn't want him. She couldn't fall back asleep that night and resolved to tell Donna the next day.

The next day, Jackie and Donna sat in the basement when Jackie told Donna she liked Fez, but instead of being sympathetic or throughly grossed out, Donna just yelled, "I freaking knew it!"She calmed down after a minute and stated talking rational. "Are you sure you like Fez?" she asked. "I mean, think of all the things you've said about him over the years."

It took a minute to go through all the flashbacks, but Jackie soon responded. "Okay, Donna, alright!you busted me! I like a bad, poor, sweaty, stinky, crazy, rediculous, sick, forign, spazoid, weirdo!" No sooner did the words escaper her mouth did Fez come into the basement. _Speak of the devil._ Jakcie thought to herself as Fez went on to explain his new way of playing Candy Land. He left quickly after grabbing the Candy Land game and declareing he would be pantsless when Jackie came home.

"There he goes, Jackie" Donn said. "your candy-covered, pants-less prince charming."

_Oh my god, she's right! _Jackie screamed to herself. _My Prince Charming is the pants-less prince of Candy Land!_ She had to find some way to stop this infatuation.

She wasn't quite sure when it happened or how, but somehow Donna had talked Jackie into seeing a therapist. Now the two girls were in the office waiting room. They saw Mrs. Foreman walk out of the office and talk to the doctor before noticing them and pretending to be lost. Jackie wasn't really all that surprised. Mrs. Foreman always had seemed a little out-there (which explained Eric's behavior! It must be genetic!).

Jackie and Donna went into the office and after an emotional melt-down by Donna and an explanation of Jackie's past relationships (leaving out the small detail of exactly how lond the second one lasted), the doctor explained to Jackie that she seems attracted to men who are unavailable, emotionally or phisically.

Of course! It was so obvious! Mr. Foreman had never actually threatened her with the old foot in the ass sinario, but this would have earned her one. Kelso was always so immature; he would never have the ability for a serious relationship, and Steven! That completely explained their entire relationship! He was never really available for her. He was her ex's best friend and the complete opposite of herself. She knew her family wouldn't approve,and their friends wouldn't approve, that's why they kept it a secret, Physically Unavailable. Then when their friends got used to the idea and she wanted to move their relationship forward, he refused... Emotional Unavailability. Then Sam came, again, Physical Unavailibility (not that it stopped them).

"Wow, so I don't really like Fez, I just think I like him because he has a girlfriend!" Jackie was overjoyed and, as awkward as it was going to a therapist, Jackie's entire romantic life was summed up with two words, 'unavailable men.' Most women would probably break down in tears about now, but Jackie couldn't help skipping all the way down to the car. She didn't really like them, they were just all unavailable.

_No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!_ Jackie sat in her room and due to the door being wide open combined with no backround sound for distraction, she was acutely aware of the conversation going on in the main room of the two bedroow apartment. _This can't be happening. This just can not be happening!_ Hilary was explaining to Fez that she was going to Italy to be a nun. So essentially, she was breaking up with him, the effect of that being that he was available. Normally she would say it was just a matter of time anyway, but where would that put her emations? Would she still like him? Would she put the whole thing off to temporary insanity? Who knew? She heard Hilary leave and waited a moment before she went into the main room.

Maybe she heard her wrong. Jackie went through a list in her head that Hilary could have said... run, son, gun... fittly, gittly, rittly... she couldn't think of anything. _It must be something else_ she thought._ It just has to be, only so many things can got wrong in your life until it starts getting better and I'm pretty sure I passed that limit._ Fez was sitting on the far end of the couch. Jackie did her best to sound cheerful. "Hey Fez, what's going on?"

He turned to her slowly with a sad puppy-dog face. "Hilary broke up with me," he said in his strange accent.

"Oh my god." The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them. She had heard everything correctly from her bedroom. Fez ended up leaving to look for Hyde and Jackie ended up sitting on the couch. She stayed there for two hours, staring blankly at the coffee table. It didn't help her sort out her feelings. She was even more confused than the time Hyde and Kelso wanted her to choose between them. It wasn't until later while she was trying to consolFez about his recent breakup did she feel his availability didn't change her infatuation. The exact words thet made her realize that were "Why can't I find a woman like you who likes me?" Jackie bolted at those words before anything else could be said.

Later that day, Hyde and Randy were walking back to the basement after trying to find someone to fix everything they broke there. Originally , Red was supposed to fix everything so he could feel useful after retireing, but that back fired since Red finally got a hand on retirement and decided to go fishing. As Randy and Hyde approched the Foremans driveway, they could hear Donna talking to someone.

"let me just get one thing strait. You really like Fez. Fez is the one you like..." There was a low reply to this that the guys didn't hear followed by a few more sentances similar to these, so it was perfectly clear that someone liked Fez.

Radi turned to Hyde. "Who is she talking to?" Hyde shrugged. He really didn't care who like Fez until a new voise drifted over the hedge.

"Yes!" The voice was louder and closer than before, so there was no denieing the voice. Jackie? Jackie voice? Jackie likes Fez? How is that possible? Hyde was completely baffled by the conversation and stopped right before they would have been visible from the driveway, Randi right behind him. He wasn't as surprised, since Jackie and Donna had explained the whole 'perfect man' list, but he though it was just temporary insanity or something. Plus he always thought Fez was gay.

"Okay," Donna said. There was a slight pause before she continued. "It's Christmas morning and you get up and your gift is Fez!"

"Donna!" Jackie yelled.

"Sorry, alright well, look, if you really like him, your gonna have to tell him."

Hyde started to walk again with Randi behind him. Soon they could see the girls leaning against the vista cruzer. "So, uh, I hear you like Fez," Hyde said, mentally punching himself in the jaw for letting it slip out, but on the outside he was all zen.

"What! How did you hear that?" Jackie said looking frustrated. Hyde let Randi respond with a mild burl. "Alright, okay. I know you guys probably think I'm carzy and I'm going from guy to guy, but Fez has always been there for me and he makes me feel good about myself. So, go ahead, go, go make fun of me."

"No, man, that's cool," he said, honestly meaning the words. "Fez is a good guy. I think if he'll make you happy, that's what you should do."

"Wow, Steven," Jackie was touched,, if not a little shocked by his words. "Thanks."

It was sweet, too sweet to have come from him to Jackie without some sort of catch. He put up his zen again and picked out a burn. "and if it doesn't work out, I hear Bob's available..." She rolled her eye and turned away from him. "and if that's no good, hear comes the garbage man." She stood there and took it with a look of unamusement. "oh, and hey, there's a garden gnome across the street you haven't done." She just stood there. No resentment, no acts a violence. He had actually started to miss the swift kick in the shins he would get when he acted up. Randy was smileing next to him and he was smirking now, but that was only on the outside. _How could she like Fez?_ He asked himself._ I mean, sure he worships the grould she walks on but she never cared before._ He didn't know about the list. If he did he would probably say it was childish. All the same, he sent Sam home. Jackie should be coming back to him now and this time they wouln't have to be secretive about it. There was no way he was going to allow those two to date.

_How could this happen!?_ Jackie sat on the couch, completely shocked. she had come in fully prepared to tell Fez she liked him and then he anounces he's going to sleep with all the women in America. "No woman is safe, except for you," he said and patted her on the head. Had all those times she turned him down cause her to go from desired goddess to little sister?! _Fuck,_ she thought, _I'm screwed._


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, so this is like the longest chapter I've done so far but I don't think it could really have been avioded. Takes place during the episode 'we will rock you.' Jackie and Hyde attempt to have a heart to heart, which of course, goes up in flames.

Jackie spent the next week trying to get closer to Fez, which was extremely difficult considering how close they were already. It wasn't until she bought a new Village People album and showed it to him did hee even respond with much enthusiasm.

Hyde pull the record out of Fez's hands. "Disco sucks, man."

_Like we all didn't already know your opinion on disco_, Jackie thought, but that line had somehow started a conversation among the group of exactly how much disco sucks, which eventually led to the gang throughing a disco burning bonfire. At first, it seemed utterly ridiculous that Fez and Jackie would be going, until Fez announced he was going to a Weight Watchers meeting to pick up women. Jackie could not let that happen. "Wait, wait! Fez, hey maybe we should go, you know, and defend the music that we love, as a team."He agreed before leaving saying Weight Watchers meetings would always be there.

The rest of the group started taunting he about how she secretly loves Fez, including Donna singing, "Jackie loves the Forign boy, Hola, taco!" and a threat from Hyde that she better not get in the way of him setting things on fire.

Hyde kept thinking over Jackie's plan to get close to Fez. _It's never going to work,_ Hyde thought to himself._ I wonder how many skanky drunk rocker chicks I can get to hit on Fez..._ Already the plan was forming in his head, as well as the plan to sell beer at the bonfire.

He wasn't really expecting Jackie and Fez to bring a cop to the bonfire, though. Nor was he expecting the cop to hate disco as much as himself, but he was glad it worked out that way. Now he had a reason to find the skanky rocker chick. It wasn't that hard to get her to drape herself all over Fez,considering she already had six beers. He found Jackie talking to a group of rockers, probably attempting to twist there minds into thinking disco was actually cool, and decided to confront her about her whore loving foreign crush.

"Hey, Jackie," he pulled her over to the side. "I was thinking of a way to get back at you for calling the cops on me, and then it hit me. Your only hear to get with Fez," Part of him was wondering why he was telling her what he did, but there was still too little time between their secret affair and now, it would be awkward to onlookers if he suddenly started being nice to her, that's what he told himself anyways. If he was being truthful, he would know he was jealous she had chosen the weird foreigner over himself. He had been rejected in a way he hadn't before, not by words, but actions. She had never actually seemed interested in anyone else when they broke up before, so this was new territory, and the only way he knew how to deal was how he usually dealed, zen and a good Burn.

"So I figured, why not I find the skankiest, slutiest, drunkest chick here," he continued. "Give her three more beers, and introduce her to Fez?"

Jackie stared at him in disbelief. "Oh, you wouldn't."

"Oh, I already did."

"You didn't!"

"I just said I did!"

"You wouldn't dare."

"I did! Turn around and look!"

When she saw the skanky blond sticking her tounge down Fez's throat her face turned red with anger, and he actually left with her! He left Jackie with a bunch of disco hateing rebels to make out with a rocker chick! What was wrong with him!? Why couldn't he see how much she liked him, that she acctually wanted to be with _him_!?

Jackie felt betrayed by Fez for leaving her for the skankwad blond and by Hyde for organizing the whole thing. She stole a jacket from some drunken person and placed it on the ground to sit on. As much as she disliked drunk disco haters, she disliked getting her white pants dirty even more. She leaned against a boulder and closed her eyes to the criminal display of disco animosity. She blocked out the sounds and tried to pretend she was at a fancy party wearing a gorgeous ball gown and everyone else was jealous. It wasn't enough to block out the voice she heard next though.

"Hey," Hyde said as he walked up to her. Her eyes opened and stared at him. Seeing her sitting on the ground, her legs crisscrossed and her hands resting in her lap, made her seem even smaller than usual, even more like a porclean doll, and as her eyes turned to his he felt a strong desire to call her dollface like he used to. He dropped the notion, knowing it was probably the last thing she wanted to hear. Hell, he was probably the last person she wanted to see, but he was here anyways.

"Hey, I thought you were selling beer to delinquents." she said, her eyes glued to his shaded ones. _How the hell can he wear sunglasses at night?_ she thought to herself.

"Eh, Randy's manning the keg right now." he said, sitting down next to her. "Want a beer?" he asked offering her the cup in his hand.

"Are you gonna charge me?" she asked. Her remark was snooty, but not unwelcomed. Hyde expected she would mearly ignore him or kick him in the shin.

"Nah, basement members get beer free," She took the cup from his hand. "Plus, I already drank half of it." _Oh well_ she thought. _Half a beer's better than none._ She took a sip and scrunched her nose. She had never really gotten used to the taste of beer.

"So," Hyde said.

"So," Jackie said back.

"Why him?" he didn't really want to know but if it was a way to understand what was going on in her head, he would take it.

"I'm sorry?" she was confused at the unclear question and Hyde's attitude. His voice was curious, almost conserned, but his body was frigid. She could tell he was trying to relax, trying to act like this was just a casual conversation.

"Why Fez?" He finallly said.

The queston caught her off gaurd. This was about Fez? He got Randy to take care of the keg, walked over here with half a beer and sat down to talk about Fez?

"He's my perfect man," she answered as if it was just a fact.

"How do you know that?" he asked, shifting to face her more. "How do you know he's your _perfect man_" with emphasis on the last two words he stared at her, as if trying to will her to admit she was wrong or the whole thing was a sham.

"He likes everything I like. He's a gentleman. He makes me feel good about myself and he treats me like the princess I am..."

"What a load of crap," Hyde said, not even waiting for her to finish the list of ridiculous resons.

"Excuse me?!"

"Jackie," he said her name in that slitely impatient voice he would use when he was about to explain something to her. "If you wanted someone who liked all the same things as you, you would have started dateing him after the stupid roller-disco thing you guys did back in high school. If you want a gentlemen, you're not gonna find one. All men are pigs and thats just the way it is, and Fez is probably the biggest pig in the group next to Kelso."

"You're forgetting feeling good about myself and treating me like a princess." Her jaw was tight and her eyes flashed with defiance. He could tell his words were haveing an affect.

"Yes, I know," Hyde said, "and feeling good about yourself is great, but eventually he's gonna mess up like Kelso and I did, and as for the princess thing... if you wanted to be treated like a princess, you would have broken us off at a summer fling that day Donna and Foreman caught us makeing out in the basement. You knew I wasn't gonna treat you like a princess."

She was staring at the unruly disco-haters haveing turned away from him during the speech. "Are you done now?" she asked. She looked to him and he nodded. "First of all, I was always with Micheal or you before I realized Fez and I are perfect for eachother. It's not like I was looking for another man when I was already in a relationship. Second, Fez _is_ a gentleman, albeit with a few minor character flaws that may make him seem less so, but he knows how to act properly in the proper cercumstances and he has never ever cheated on a woman he was with. Third, the princess thing, as you so elegantly put it. I like to be treated like a princess. It's who I am! I told you when we were dateing that I was lowering my standards. Well, after I dumbed you, standards went back up." She paused for a moment before continueing. "And as for feeling good about myself... I know he's going to screw up at some point. He's a man, it's inevitable, but there is no way his screw up could be worse than your's or Micheal's" Her voice was determined, resolute, but her body trembled at the emotions running through her as if any moment she was going to fall apart at the seams. "Both of you broke my heart just to put it back together and break it again and Fez would never do that."

"Jackie, everything I ever did to hurt you I would take back if I could," His voice was sad, apolagetic, sincere. It was impossible for anyone to think he wasn't telling the truth.

Jackie gave a sad sort of laugh. "That's not good enough," she said. "Micheal broke my heart, but you didn't just do that. You broke my morality. I may be a bitch and may lie on a daily basis, but one of the things I never thought I would do, one of the things I never thought I would have _allowed _myself to do was become someone's side woman, become the girl that the man cheated with. I became your mistress! I lied myself into thinking that in the end you would choose me!"

"I did choose you! For god's sake, Jackie. I was going to marry you but you never gave me the chance to answer! and then I see Kelso standing in your hotel room naked? What did you expect me to do?!"

"Well, not go off and marry a danm stripper!"

"I was angry, drunk and in Vegas! I don't even remember the wedding! and we weren't really married!"

"And when you found out you weren't really married you still let her stay!"

"I did not! I told her to leave!"

"Not soon enough!"Jackie stood up and towered over Hyde. "You should have asked her to leave the minute she got here, the minute you started fooling around with me and the minute you found out she was already married to an old fat guy! You had three chances and you took none of them! You screwed yourself! I realized you're a jerk who has strung me along more than anyone else in my life ever has!And once Fez remembers that I'm perfect and realizes that I want to be his girlfriend, we'll be happy and you'll be alone without a wife or a girlfriend, smoking pot in the Foreman's basement!" With those words obviously ending the conversation she stormed off into the crowd of rebels,, her half a beer sitting next to Hyde on the dirty jacket, comletely forgotten.

For the next hour or so, Jackie's emotions ran wild, anger, saddness, and confusion taking the riens. She didn't talk to anyone or do anything, just leaned against a tree thinking until she heard Hyde announce it was time to light the bonfire at which she ran up to him in protest. After all, she did come here to protect the music she loved, even if her partner did leave her to make out with a slut.

Truth be told, Hyde couldn't acctually burn the records since he had had a few too many beers himself, so he called Randy over to do it and went to go sit down. Once he left though, he heard Fez behind him yelling stop and Jackie's surprise response. _I'm starting to really dislike him_, Hyde thought to himself. Fez was supposed to be makeing out with the drunk chick. _Foreigners suck..._ He stood near Randy for balance if nessessary, unable to really make it far enough to intervene there conversation, just out of earshot.

He watched the two. Fez's serious face, Jackie's hopeful eyes. Relief soon spread throughout her features. Hyde's eyes stared on as Fez's voice got louder to address the whole crowd.

"... I want everyone to know it!" He yelled. "Jackie Burckhart and I are in love..." The words were out and floating in the air. Hyde's hands started shaking, his jaw tightened and his muscles flexed. If anyone could have seen him in the dark, they would have been terrified. _What the hell?! He ain't leaving here without a broken arm!_ He tried to move forward but only accomplished stumbling and grabbing on to Randy's shoulder for support.

"... with Disco!" the last words were said. Hyde stared at the two as Randy helped him stand up again. Jackie's face dropped, she was obviously thinking the same as Hyde, and Fez continued to rant... before hitting the tiki trorch into the pile of records and ultamately setting them on fire himself. The anger that had consumed Hyde a minute ago was now replaced with amusement at the situation and triumph at seeing the pile go up in flames, but he could see Jackie. Her face was low with a disappointment but not on the brink of tears, like what might have been excpected. This also lifted his spirits. He knew her emotions so well, and if a situation similar to this had taken place between her and himself, she would have been devasteted, not dissapointed.

Later that night, or more likely extremely early the next morning, Jackie finally managed to get to bed, thanking god she didn't have to work later. That night her dreams consisted of memories. Pictures from her passed of her and Fez and her and Hyde blurred together in her head in a montage of experiences, and when she woke up she couldn't help but cry.


	8. Chapter 8

I know it's been extremely long since I've updated and I'm sorry. My pathetic excuse is that I've been in kind of a slump. But I'm hear now and I'll try not to do that again. This takes place during Season 8 Episode 20, "Leaving Home Ain't Easy." Engoy :-)

The next few weeks past by uneventfully for all except Fez, who was getting more action than he ever had in his short sex life, and Jackie, who was whatching the whole thing with her apperent feelings for him.

This kept going until Fez decided he was a one woman guy and chose one girl. Unfortunately for everyone, that one girl was Caroline, his literally crazy ex with split personalities, only one of which was pleasant and at least four being not pleasant. That unpleasant relationship was quickly over when Caroline walked in on Jackie kissing Fez. After Caroline left (post Fez beat up) Jackie explained to Fez that she liked him but he turned her down saying he didn't want to be her third choice after Kelso and Hyde. At that, Jackie locked herself in the bathroom and started to cry.

How could she be rejected yet again!? At least this time it was with words and not actions. It eased the pain a little to know he had the guts to tell her 'no' instead of showing her, but how _dare _he! How dare _he_ tell _her_ no! He who had been after her for _years_, when finally given the chance, said _no! How_ could he say no,... to _her_!? It had come to mind that Donna had never been so completely rejected as to have a man cheat on her. True, Eric wrote that letter to break up with her, but everyone knew the minute he was back in town they would get back together, Randy or no Randy. If anything, she had more guys chasing her, while Jackie, obviously more beautiful then she, had none.

Jackie was tired of being alone but she was tired of being rejected even more. She decided what she was going to do. She was going to get revenge. he rejected her and now he's going to pay! Jackie started to fix her hair and make-up so she could face Fez who had been outside the door babbling nonsense for the past hour.

Meanwhile, Hyde and Randy had just walked into the apartment to find Fez leaning against the bethroom door and listening intently. Now, they were used to the foreigner putting himself in awkward situations, but this one was new.

"Fez," Hyde said. "...If your getting your jollies listening to people go potty, I'm calling a doctor."

"Shhh, I'm trying to hear if Jackie's okay. She's been in the bathroom for hours crying,"

Randy looked at the foreign man. "Oh my god, you had sex with her!"

_He better not have or I'll kick his ass!_ Hyde thought.

"No," Fez said. He went on to explain how, Jackie had said she wanted to be his girlfriend and he turned her down.

"What?" Hyde said, "why?" Truth be told, he was relieved that Fez had said no. It was probably the foreign man's smartest hour, but he was still confused. Fez had been after Jackie for years and now that she wanted to be with him he decided he didn't want to be with her"

"Because she didn't mean it," he went on to talk about how she didn't really want him.

"Well, what kind of crying is it,"Hyde asked. It wasn't that hard to tell if she was genuinely upset or just causing a scene. "Is it 'my life is over' kind of crying or hysterical sobs like the time Kelso sat on his nads."

Fez started talking about his lame attempts to get Jackie out of the bathroom. Right then, Jackie came out, "Hi guys." Everyone studied her for a minute.

"Wow, she... perfectly fine," Randy said. "So you definantly didn't have sex with her."

"Jackie, are your okay." Fez asked. Hyde didn't know what he expected. She never would have let a guy who rejected her see her at anything less that her best.

"Oh, no," Jackie's expression changed. "No, I'm not okay." The somewhat charming smile that was seen a split second before gave was to a daggard eyed look. "I just decided being sad is a waste of time. Yeah, see, a more productive use of my time is revenge. So get ready because I am going to rain doom down on your stupid foreign head!" She stormed out of the room as three pairs of eyes followed her, one with fear, one with amusement and one with consideration.

_Rain doom?_ Hyde thought. _That's what she did when someone called her fat or the cheerleaders kicked her off the squad, not when a guy rejects her._ Making someone's life miserable was not held for romantic relationships for Jackie. Often times after a breakup she would just pretend she didn't care, which usually hurt more than if she did rain doom. It wasn't the right response for the situation.

"Well, that doesn't seem so bad, Fez," Hyde said. "I wouldn't worry about it."

"You wouldn't?" Fez questioned, a glimmer of hope appearing in his eyes.

"No, but that's because I'm safe,"he answered. "you should be freaking terrified."

Hyde thought over Fez and Jackie's situation. He was overjoyed at his answer and her reaction for it meant, though she didn't know it, that she really didn't consider Fez a romantic option. They may have so much in common it's sickening, but that wouldn't keep them together very long with no physical attraction... on her part. Hyde was also slightly perturbed. When Jackie went seeking revenge, it consumed her. It's all she would think about and her determinaton made it nearly impossible for anything else to enter her mind. Having an observer such as himself react would not be enough to get her to stop her ploys, but if Fez were to react, specifically in a negative, rather harsh way, Jackie may be able to see exactly how unlikely her and Fez truely are. He just needed to get Fez to fight back.

He and Fez were talking in the basement and it seemed that what Jackie was doing wasn't bothering him. Hyde bashed her in all the usual ways, called her Satan's child, said the reason she ripped his shirt wasn't to make him look good but to go for the nipple. None of this seemed to bother Fez... until he saw his car. Jackie had vandalized it to the point of near unrecognition. At this, he decided he would fight back with a small tid-bit from Hyde to attack her looks, and oh, what he did.

The scream that came from the bathroom soon before she came out was evidence enough that she was pissed, but it wasn't until she came out wearing nothing but a towel that Hyde could see why, though he was slightly distracted by the fact she was wearing _nothing but a towel._ Her hair had turned emerald green. It was in fact halarious and he would have laughed if his brain had the capacity to think of more than her perfectly tanned skin, her wonderfully slender legs and her gorgeously perky breasts. He tried to consentrate on Fez, keeping his eyes on him just to keep his eyes off her. It worked until Fez called her ugly, at which Hyde had to speek up.

"Holy crap, man. Cover your nipples!" Soon after that, Jackie packed up her things and left. Hyde was rejoicing at this point. With that last comment Fez made there was no way she was ever going to date him. So, when Fez ran out of the apartment a drunken attempt to find Jackie and win her back, Hyde just sat back and finished the rest of his beer. Soon enough, he would be back in her life without any Sam's or Fez's or Kelso's to get in the way.


	9. Chapter 9

A few days later, Fez's friend Andrew Davis flew in from... where ever, bringing with him a very strong contribution to the circle. Naturally, Hyde jumped at the opportunity. Things hadn't been going well with Jackie seeing as how she was still angry about the ugly comment Fez made, and his day only got worse when he read the letter from his dad stating that WB had sold the record stores to a dry-cleaning chain. That was the first day Steven Hyde overdid it.

Temporary insanity took over and he quit the circle the next day, giving him more time for model car building and jogging. It was while he was painting one of the model cars that Jackie came down to the basement and Hyde told her that he quit the circle.

"You quit the circle!? What are you... high!?"

"I don't do that anymore, Jackie. I don't need to." He finished painting the model car and ran outside for a jog after asking Jackie to tell Mrs. Foreman he would fix the salad for dinner. Jackie could tell that there was something obviously wrong with Hyde, but she didn't have enough time to really contemplate it since some weird unknown foreigner with a huge British accent came down the stairs. He said something about the man whose heart she broke was packing and leaving. This really didn't bother her, seeing as how she was Jackie Burkhart and had broken men's hearts before, but the next sentence was what caught her off guard, strange one to do so, though.

"Now who is this Kitty and where is her underwear?"

It was now plainly obvious to whom this man was referring to. "Wait, wait, wait, Fez is leaving?" The foreign guy went on to explain how Fez regretted calling Jackie ugly knowing he had hurt her.

Jackie's head was swimming with the new information she had just received. It seemed that everyone around her had gone insane. She left the basement and headed for the park.

The park was perhaps one of the few places where she could be alone to think and it had been her unofficial sanctuary for years, ever since she moved out of her parents' house the first time, when she started spending the night in the basement with Hyde. She sat on the swing, rocking herself back and forth.

Jackie's mind, after the initial shock of multiple situations coming upon her at once, seemed to have settled down and was now thinking nothing at all. She was trying to make sense of Fez leaving, but also trying to make sense of Hyde's current state of mind. Eventually her mind led her to think of the easier problem, thought the subject was more difficult and of less urgency.

Hyde was obviously not himself. She had heard from Donna of his dad firing him and his overdoing it yesterday, but she didn't think of contributing his change of character to those events alone. Was it really her business what Hyde did or didn't do, though? Granted, it was strange, but it shouldn't be any concern of hers. She then wondered briefly why she was concerned at all before resolving not to think of it anymore.

So, ignoring the easier problem left her with the more difficult one. Fez was leaving the country, undoubtedly because of her. But this was for the best, wasn't it? She didn't want to see him. He didn't want to see her, so what did it matter that he was leaving. She guessed the problem was that he felt bad about what he did to her. He was going back to his home country, but was that really what he wanted?

Jackie noticed the sun sinking in the sky and realized it was probably close to dinner time. She headed back to the Piciotti's where she had been staying since she left the apartment. She planned to have her own place by the time Bob moved to Florida, but until then she was eating frozen dinners with him and Donna every night.

For the next couple of days Jackie's mind went over everything that had happened in the past few years, like a recap of part of her life. It was soon realized that everyone in her life was leaving or had left already. Her father was in prison and her mother was hell knows where. Eric was in Africa. Kelso was in Chicago. Donna was going to college and Fez was probably packing his things at the apartment right now. Even Bob and Mr. and Mrs. Forman where moving to Florida. That means the only person she would know in a month would be... Hyde? _Hyde?!_ Of all the people to be stuck with in this stupid little town, it had to be Hyde! The one person she was trying just to forget about, forget that she ever had a relationship with. And if she was left alone with him what would happen? If she was forced to face their previous relationship, would it hurt? No sooner did she ask herself the question did her eyes swell up with tears and her chest sink in pain. The answer was brutally clear. She couldn't be left with him nor did she have the ability to leave. If she was left with him, her heart would shatter. It would hurt more than all the break-ups she had with him in the past because she would no longer have anything to distract her from it.

Why Fez? Why did he want to go back to his home country? Truly she knew that it was because she broke his heart but she had given him every opportunity and he had turned her down. They blamed each other for not being together. _If I made it perfectly clear to him that I really want to be with him, maybe he'll stay._ It was a long shot, but it was the only way she could think of so she wasn't alone with Hyde. _I can't stay here with him. I would drive myself mad._

Jackie upon that thought, instantly decided to drive to the apartment but there was no sign of Fez. In fact his room had been stripped of anything Fez-like. The closet was empty, the walls were bare and it smelled of cardboard boxes and dust rather than the expensive, over applied cologne that had resided there for so long. The definiteness of the empty apartment was overwhelming. She had spent the past few days not caring, but to actually see him disappearing from her life caused her more pain than she thought. She took a minute to recollect herself and thought of the only places Fez could be. He had come into the solon yesterday to quit so she knew he couldn't be there. That left her with The Grooves, The Hub, and Foreman's Basement. Since The Grooves was the closest to the apartment, she went there first.

Jackie knew that the store would be closed by this time but she was hoping someone else would be there besides Hyde. He walked out of his office with some records in his hands and Leo was over in a corner doing something, Jackie never tried to figure out Leo and most of the time just ignored him since he usually forgot the conversation anyways. Other than that, the place was empty.

"Oh, Steven! Is Fez here?" she asked.

"Uh," Hyde was caught off guard by her appearance in the store, and looking for Fez! He knew for the past few days he had been going through a faze of insanity and he lost valuable time in which he could have been trying to win Jackie back, especially now that Fez was leaving. And here she was looking for him. It made him nervous, the look of desperation in her eyes as she said Fez's name. "No, you just missed him. He already left for the airport with Andrew."

Her features sunk a little as she heard this, but her personality, being so determined, clung to any tiny hopes. "Maybe the plane hasn't left yet. They have to get there early to get through security. They haven't left yet!" She started heading for the door. "They were going to Brazil first, right?"

A strong hand grabbed her forearm before she could run out. She turned around to see Hyde. "Jackie," his sunglasses covered his eyes per usual, but there was something in his stillness which caused her to be anxious. "Why are you running after him? He wants to leave. You both rejected each other. What more do you have to say to him?"

Jackie's hand twitched from nervousness as she listened to Hyde's words. She could tell in his tone of voice that he didn't want to say what he was saying. Did he know it would hurt him to have this conversation with her? Was he merely setting himself up for disappointment, or could he possibly have a chance at redeeming himself to her?

Jackie couldn't find any way of avoiding the question. She could tell in his manner that he wasn't going to let her leave without an answer. "I have to tell him," she started reluctantly, "that I'm sorry and I know he's sorry and then I'm going to hope he'll stay."

"You've accepted that he's sorry for what he's done in a few days but you still haven't forgiven me?"

"You did a lot worse then turning my hair green."

"Yeah, I know that," He let go of her arm, fairly sure she wasn't going to run out the door. She stood there with a saddened expression on her face. "Look, Jackie. Do you think I'm not really, really sorry, or something? Because I don't know what I can do."

"Steven, you don't have to do anything. I forgave you a long time ago."

"Then why can't you give me another chance."

"Because I don't want to get hurt by you again." Her sentence silenced him and they both stood there in the impending quietness until she spoke again. "I've been hurt by a lot of people, but when _you _hurt me, I¾" her voice cracked as she tried to tell him. "I lost myself. I became this totally different person and I can't be with someone who can ruin me that way. I forgave you because I know it was my own fault for getting involved with you, with a tin man without a heart. Forgive and forget, right? I forgave, now I'm going to forget."

She turned and headed to the door. "Jackie." she walked out the door. He started to follow. "Jackie!"

"What?" She had turned around quickly, putting them face to face. He could see the pain in her eyes, the tired distress. Her jaw was clenched and her voice hard but her eyes, they were weak. He was hurting her again, again without meaning to. _If I hurt her this much just by being here_, he thought, _she's better off with Fez._ It was at this point that he gave up. He always knew that Jackie was out of his league, but she always cared for him so he was able to forget about his inferiority. It didn't work if she cared about someone else.

"Fez said he was going by the basement before he went to the airport." Every syllable was causing him pain. "He only left about ten minutes ago. He should still be there."

Jackie was expecting more of a fight from Hyde. Her features softened a little bit. Her eyes grew less tired and her jaw more relaxed. She looked, not like her usual happy self, but a little less upset.

"Thanks," she said and gave him a little smile before she left. Hyde sat on the couch and waited for the walls of the world to crash in on him.


	10. Chapter 10

Um... yeah, I know it's been a while since I updated. I started writing 'bout New Year's but that bombed so this is the first chapter taking place after season 8. Fez and Jackie break up and Fez tells Jackie a big secret that he's been hiding for quite some time.

There's probably only going to be one mone chapter after this, maybe two, but probably one. So sigh in relief that the happy ending is very near.

ON WITH THE STORY - RESOLUTE LOVE CHAPTER 10

A few weeks passed since New Year's. Mrs. Foreman was ecstatic to have Eric back in the house, but she was at the moment having a breakdown. Eric was just packing the rest of his stuff in the Vista Cruiser to leave for Madison, where Donna was already having left New Year's Day. Eric decided not to go back to Africa. The program paid him for the time he did teach there and he and Donna decided that he would move in with her at her Madison apartment as soon as he could. He would get a job there to pay for the rest of college while she went to school. While everyone considered this the worst idea they could possibly come up with at this particular time, they did it anyway.

Mr. and Mrs. Foreman decided not to move to Florida meaning Hyde got to keep his room in the basement. Bob had moved to Florida and was now in the process of getting a bait shop up and running. Kelso had gone back to Chicago. Randy was still working at the record store and had met Eric on New Year's Day. They actually got along alright. Eric didn't blame him for dating Donna after he was an ass and dumped her and Randy didn't blame Eric for moving in with Donna so soon after they broke up. He was kind of perturbed at Donna though, nothing that he wouldn't get over. Jackie and Fez had gone from awkward couple to cute couple since they had their first kiss at the water tower on New Year's Eve.

Things had been going a little better for Steven Hyde. WB had apparently saved one record store and gave it to Hyde, which meant the last Grooves was now owned and operated by Steven Hyde. A few years ago Hyde never would have imagined himself owning a record store given to him by his black father, but now he did. With his own business, he was well on his way to becoming a responsible, respectable adult. Granted, it scared the crap out of him but he wasn't going to tell anyone that.

While his life was apparently getting better with the store, he himself felt miserable. Having given up his attempt to win Jackie, his life now consisted of working, sleeping, and the circle, having discovered it was vital to his sanity. The only amusement he got out of life was seeing "Michael + Fez" written on the water tower when he would drive home everyday.

Jackie had moved back in to the apartment with Fez and set definite ground rules. They stayed in there separate bedrooms at night and truly almost nothing had changed from before she moved out except that now they sometimes made out in the couch.

Jackie had become content with their current relationship. She had a boyfriend who loved her and worshiped her. He bought her presents. He opened doors for her. He paid her complements almost every time he saw her. They were cute, kind, safe. Safe and content but without passion or joy. She never got carried away when they were making out. In fact, sometime she found her mind wondering. Jackie dwelt on this fact for quite sometime. She wondered, perhaps, if she had chosen the wrong guy again.

_Oh great_ she thought. She had finally found a guy who was everything she ever wanted and she found herself uncomfortable every time he did something kind and gentlemanly. Everything she had spent years trying to teach Hyde and Kelso to do like open doors for her, pull out her chair for her, complimenting her new dress; they made her sick now, and guilty. Thinking of Hyde and Kelso got her to thinking of Hyde. Thinking of Hyde got her to thinking about all the little things he would do; stroking her hair when she sat on his lap, giving her a peck on the lips to say goodbye, calling her Dollface, even the presents he did give her, things that were important to him but wouldn't impress anyone. She still had his old Led Zeppelin t-shirt in the back of her closet. She never let go of it. She couldn't let go of him.

Right now, while all these thought were racing through her head, she and Fez were making out on the couch. She tried to feel passion but all that came was her feeble acting skills. Fez seemed unaware of her preoccupied mind and responded fiercely to her small acting gestures, only making her more timid.

He went for second base, for the first time since the started going out, causing Jackie to squeal in surprise, which he must have thought was excitement, He continued to paw at her breasts, unaware of her rapid change of behavior. She could feel the bile rising in her throat. She couldn't take it anymore. She pushed Fez off of her and got up from the couch.

"Jackie, what's wrong?" Ever the gentleman, so kind and considerate.

"I'm sorry, Fez," she stammered. "I just think we're moving too fast." She couldn't bear to tell him that she was still hooked up on Hyde.

"Oh, I get it." He said, "You're still hooked up on Hyde."

Jackie froze for a minute and then made a feeble attempt at denial. "Of course not!" she said, attempting to dismiss the issue. "That was over, like, eight months ago, and it was his loss anyways." She averted to her stuck up snobbish personality. "If he can't appreciate me for who I am, he doesn't deserve me." "Jackie, come on," Fez said. "It hasn't been eight months. It's been, like, six weeks." Jackie made another attempt at denial but the only thing that came out was incomprehensible gibberish. "Jackie, don't even try to deny it. I mean, how many closets have I hidden in? And Hyde was married to a stripper! Don't you think I'd want to see some of that?"

"Oh my god! You were there!?"

"Yes, and imagine my surprise when you came in and started making out with Hyde instead of Sam."

"You sick pervert! Did you see anything?!" she slapped him a couple of times before letting him answer.

"No, of course not. How are you supposed to see anything is a dark basement?" Jackie turned away frustrated and angry, though glad he didn't see anything. "But you know, you two are a lot more vocal that Donna and Eric. It still gave me needs."

Jackie slapped him hard on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

"You disgusting bastard! You knew the entire time and you just watched while Hyde and I had an affair, throwing burns at each other whenever there was anyone else in the room!"

"I told you! I didn't watch; I listened!"

"Uh!" Jackie stormed towards her room.

"Jackie, don't you get it?" Fez stopped her. ""That's why I didn't go out with you when you asked me the first time. I figured you and Hyde were just arguing over some thing and you were looking for a rebound!"

"Agh! I can't believe you thought that about me!"

"Well... weren't you looking for a rebound?"

"No! Well... yes but¾ that's not the point!" she yelled. "You thought bad about me and I can't be with a guy who does that!"

"Well, that works fine because I can't be with a girl who I think bad about! Oh, who am I kidding? Yes, I can."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"_Fine!_"

"So, friends?" Jackie tiredly walked over to the couch and collapsed.

"Oh, Fez. What's wrong with me?"

Fez sat down next to her with a sigh, "Well, Jackie. If you really want to know... your a bitch. "

Jackie turned to him with surprise and disbelief. "Fez!"

"Let me finish," He held up his hand. "You are stubborn and selfish. You know what you want but not what you need and you won't admit to needing anything."

"That is so not true!" She stood up to tower over him. "I am Jackie freaking Burkhart! I get everything I want or need... and I _don't _need anything!"

"Your lying!" he stood up nowto stare at her at eye level. Jackie looked like she was ready to hit him again. "You need people and especially Hyde! Do you realize how much less annoying you were when you were with him? It's because he's just as stubborn as you! He's the only one you can't push around! With Kelso you just bossed him around a lot because he was weak and liked to be manipulated, so you two made the most annoying couple in existence. Then me, I do whatever you tell me to in hopes of making out." Jackie stared at him in disgust. "I got to second base and that's further that I expected to get, so¾"

Jackie started hitting him again. "You sicko!"

"Ow! I know! I'm a sicko! Stop hitting me!"

She stopped hitting him and started scowling into space, ignoring him. Fez starred at her for a minute before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Why don't you just go ask him to take you back?" Jackie continued to stare off into space, but her scowl had turned to a saddened expression.

"I can't do that," she said.

"Why not?" Fez asked.

"He would never take me back," she said.

"Of course he would. He's been moping around more than you."

"No, he wouldn't... not after what I've said to him. He probably hates me even more than before we went out."

"Jackie, he never hated you. He just pretended to, like he pretends to hate everything. If he really hated you, he wouldn't have taken you to Prom and he wouldn't have punched that guy on Veteran's Day and he wouldn't have tried to comfort you every time you cried." Jackie made another attempt to run to her room but Fez once again stopped her form escaping. "Don't you see? He always loved you. He just pretended not to because you were Kelso's girl and then his ex-girl and then his girl again etcetera, etcetera It's common courtesy not to hit on your best friends girl/ex-girl. It never stopped me but that's because I have no common courtesy when it comes to hitting on women."

"It doesn't matter!" Jackie was on the verge of tears now. She dodged into the small bathroom before Fez could catch her, locking the door behind her. "He hates me now and he's not going to take me back and it doesn't matter because I'm not going to ask him anyway!" That was the last thing she said before the tears choked out her cries of outrage.

END CHAPTER 10

So, what ya think? Did you guess the secret? :-)


	11. Chapter 11

It wasn't long before the rest of the gang realized that Jackie and Fez were no longer a couple. Jackie was now sitting in the lawn chair in the basement instead of on the couch next to Fez, and awkward silence would follow whenever anyone asked why. It wasn't until Jackie left them alone one day that the guys decided to pull out the stash and the truth came out.

"So, Fez," Hyde started. "You and Jackie broke up."

"Yes," Fez said, "She started objecting to my tongue being in her mouth so I decided it was time to end things before they got really bad."

"Man, that sucks," Randy said. "I really thought you guys had a chance. I mean, you guys a perfect for each other. She's a spoiled bitch and you do everything she tells you to."

"Well, I thought I might have saved it, but things were pretty much ruined when she found out I'd been spying on her and Hyde when Sam was in Vegas."

Hyde stared at the foreigner from behind his shades. "What?"

"…Ei, no."

The next moment the circle was disbanded as Hyde got up and started yelling and pacing the room. "You knew? You were spying on us? Man, I should kick your ass!"

"Why should you kick my ass? You were the one cheating on your stripper wife."

"She wasn't my wife."

But you thought she was," Randy said. "So, you're still at fault here."

"You want an ass kicking, too?"

"You know what? I'll just go." Randy got up and ran up the stairs.

"Yeah, good call!"

Mrs. Foreman was making lunch and Mr. Foreman was sitting at the kitchen table. "Hey Mrs. Foreman, Mind of I borrow the phone to call Donna and Eric."

"Oh, no, of course not. Let me talk to them when you're done."

Randy walked over to the phone and started dialing Eric and Donna's number in Madison. It rang twice before Donna answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Donna, It's Randy. Is Eric there, too? I have something to tell both of you."

"Gossip from Point Place?" Donna said motioning for Eric to come over to the phone. "Usually that's Jackie's job."

"Well, this has to do with Jackie."

"Gossip about Jackie?" Eric said. "Ooh, I wanna hear." He took the phone from Donna and held it between them so they could both hear.

"Well, Jackie and Fez broke up."

"That's not gossip." Donna said. "That was expected from the beginning."

"Yeah, but you'll never guess why. Jackie found out Fez was spying on her…"

"Yeah, still not gossip." Eric said.

"When she and Hyde were together when Hyde was married to Sam."

"What? Oh my god!"

"No Freaking way! Hyde cheated on a stripper with Jackie?"

A plate crashed behind Randy as Kitty overheard. "Oh. My. God!"

Hyde emerged from the basement followed by Fez whose eye was starting to swell. Kitty turned on him.

"You, young man, are in big trouble."

Hyde turned to Randy. "You told them?"

"No, they overheard me telling Eric and Donna."

Red stared at Hyde from his place at the kitchen table. "How could you be so stupid as to date a woman while married to another, and why would you want to!"

"How could you do that to those poor girls?" Kitty said.

"Mrs. Foreman, you didn't even like Sam." Hyde said.

"No, but that doesn't mean you can sleep with other women!"

"He can't help it Ms. Kitty," Fez said. "He loves Jackie but he was too scared to tell Sam."

"You want another black eye?" Hyde said turning to Fez.

"Well, Steven, if that's the case; you should have told Sam that from the beginning."

"Man, I don't love her!"

"Well, you like her enough to cheat on a stripper with her!"

"I'm not gonna stand here and have you all judge me." He started for the living room.

"Steven," Red spoke up from his place at the table. "Sit down."

Hyde grudgingly stomped over to the table and sat down, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to one side.

"Let's be honest, Steven."Red said. "If Sam hadn't shown up and said you two were married, where would you be right now?"

Hyde shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I'd probably be with Jackie, so?"

"So I know, as does everyone else, that Jackie made you happy. God knows why, but she did, and even though you pretended she was the worst thing in your life, you two were good together. You didn't take any of her crap and she didn't take any of yours. It's like with Kitty and me. I'm grumpy and like to call people dumbasses, she's all friendly and laughing. We work well because we're so different. That's how you and Jackie were and you're probably never gonna find a girl like that again.

"Now, the best thing you can do right now is try to get her back."

Hyde sat there a few minutes in contemplation. "Fine," he finally said. "I'll talk to her but I don't promise anything." He stood up to leave just as the sliding glass door opened.

"Oh my god! Thank god you're all here. You'll never guess who I just got off the phone with." Jackie quickly made her way to the center of the room and turned to face the group. "Remember the TV station in Chicago that offered me the job last year? Well, the girl they got to take my place on the show went on a drunken rant during a live broadcast so they're giving me another chance!"

Everyone stared at her in shock, as she ranted on. "Oh, I'm just so excited! My dream's coming true! They want me in Chicago in two days! I have to go call Donna!" She ran out of the kitchen with everyone staring after her until Hyde spoke.

"Yeah, great talk," he said before walking out the glass door without looking at anyone.

"Hello?" Donna's voice came from the phone in Randy's hand. "What the Hell's going on?" Randy put the phone to his ear.

"Wow, you guys are missing everything!"


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own That '70s show.

I'm working to try to finish this story and I think the next chapter may be the last but I make no promises.

The next day, Hyde knocked on Fez and Jackie's apartment door. Fez answered a moment later.

"Hey, Fez, Jackie here?"

"Sorry, Hyde, I already took her to the bus station."

"What? She left already? She just got the call yesterday."

"The producer wanted her in Chicago as soon as possible. So, she left this morning."

"On the bus? She'd never take the bus."

"She said she didn't want to be a bother to anyone."

Hyde nodded. "Alright, thanks man." Fez closed the door and watched through the peephole as Hyde walked away.

He whispered in to the other room. "Jackie, he's gone."

Jackie stuck her head out of her bedroom. "Are you sure?"

"I watched him leave. Oh, Jackie, I really don't feel good about this."

"Hey, you owe me this, not only for spying on me all those times but for letting it spill to everyone that Hyde and I were together. Mrs. Foreman scalded me for my 'dirty ways' and Donna's been calling nonstop. My bus leaves in a couple hours and you just have to help me avoid Steven until then."

Later that day, Fez came into the Foreman's kitchen where Mrs. Foreman was making lunch.

"Hey, Ms. Kitty, is Hyde here?"

"No, he left this morning for the record store."

"Thanks," he said before walking back out the door and yelling. "Jackie, coast is clear!"

Jackie came in a moment later.

"Hey, Mrs. Foreman." She said. "I have my suitcase in the car. I'm heading for the bus station to go to Chicago and I wanted to say goodbye before I left."

"Oh, no. Jackie, you can't leave yet. I was going to throw you a going away surprise party, and you left so quickly the last time…"

"I know, but I have to take this chance. It's not everyone who gets a second chance at their dream, I've got to take it."

Mrs. Foreman gave a watery, sad smile. "I know, dear." The two women hugged and Jackie felt herself begin to tear as well.

Jackie sniffed a little bit as she pulled away. "Um, is Mr. Foreman here?" she said, whipping a tear from her eye.

"He's in the living room," Kitty said. Jackie walked toward the living room door. "Oh, Jackie," Jackie turned back to Mrs. Foreman. "Don't you want to stay for lunch? You can say goodbye to Steven."

Jackie held her breath for a fraction of a second to compose herself. "No, thanks, Mrs. Foreman, I already said goodbye to Steven and I want to get to Chicago as soon as possible." Mrs. Foreman gave a little nod and Jackie smiled at her before going into the living room.

Mr. Foreman was sitting in his chair watching something on cable. "Hey, Mr. Foreman, I'm leaving for Chicago now and I just wanted to say goodbye and thank you."

"For what?" He asked a little confused.

"For lots of things, but mostly just putting up with all of us."

"Well… your welcome." He said. "Have a nice life."

She smiled, "you too." She headed for the kitchen door.

"Jackie."

Jackie turned around as Mr. Foreman got up from his chair to look at her.

"Look, I just want to let you know they'll be dumbasses no matter where you go and don't let any of them get in your way, especially one particular dumbass." Jackie smiled at his unique show of affection. "Just concentrate on yourself for a while."

"Thanks, Mr. Foreman." She kissed his cheek and gave him a hug, and since no one was around to witness it, he hugged her back. They let go and she smiled at him one last time before she turned and left through the kitchen again.

It was a little while later when Hyde came into the kitchen for lunch. Mr. Foreman was already sitting at the table and Mrs. Foreman was bringing over the sandwiches. He sat down at the table. "Thanks, Mrs. Foreman, looks great."

"Well, thank you, Steven. I wish Jackie could have stayed for lunch. She shouldn't ride a bus all the way to Chicago on an empty stomach."

"Jackie's probably in Chicago by now. I stopped by the apartment and Fez said he'd already taken her to the bus station."

"Oh, well, that doesn't make any sense," Mrs. Foreman said. "She was just here ten minutes ago on her way to the bus station to say goodbye."

"Kitty…" Mr. Foreman warned from his place in the other side of his wife.

"What." She looked over to Hyde in time to see his slightly dumbfounded expression change as his jaw clenched. "Oh," Mrs. Foreman said as she realized what happened.

Hyde, without having touched his sandwich, got up and left the kitchen.

On the other side of town, Jackie and Fez stood beside the bus to Chicago.

"Well, you made it, Jackie. In a few hours you'll be in Chicago on your way to television stardom." He turned to her. "I'm going to miss you so much!" He began to choke up as he hugged her, pinning her arms to the side. She tried to hug him back but only managed a useless flailing of her hands.

"I'll miss you too, Fez" He pulled away and pouted a little, "and thank you for hiding me from Steven today."

"It was no problem. You'll come back to visit, right?"

"Of course."

The two hugged again, this time with Jackie's arms free. They pulled away and smiled.

"Bye, Jackie."

"See ya."

Fez turned and walked back to his car as Jackie went to get on the bus.

"Jackie!"

Jackie turned at the sound of her name to see Steven Hyde running towards her.

"Fez!" she yelled in the direction he'd left.

"I didn't do it!"

Hyde came to a stop in front of Jackie, putting his hands on his knees and panting. He stood up strait as he caught his breath and looked at Jackie.

"Why'd you have Fez lie about you being there."

She looked at him and held her ground. "You know why."

"Jackie, I-" Hyde didn't really want to say it, but he knew it was really the only chance he had. "I don't want you to go. I didn't get a chance to tell you last time, but I want you to stay here. I figured we could try this again without Sam or Fez or Kelso to get in the way."

She watched him, though he didn't show it physically, he was struggling to say these things. Her eyes were sad but her jaw clenched in determination.

"No, Steven," she said, he voice unwavering. "The last time I put a relationship before my career I ended up with neither. I hit rock bottom. I'm not going to do that again."

"Jackie,-"

"Goodbye, Steven." Jackie got on the bus just as the doors closed behind her. The bus roared to life and started moving. Hyde watched it pick up speed and then turn the corner to disappear behind a building on its way to Chicago, carrying Jackie with it.


	13. Chapter 13

**So, this will probably be the last chapter. I may decide to right more at a later time or an epilogue. Let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own That '70s Show.**

* * *

"Well, of course you can come over this weekend." Mrs. Foreman was talking on the phone in the kitched. "No, it's fine. You can stay in Laurie's old room. Don't worry, I'll talk to Red, but when you get here you better tell me about the show. I've been watching it every day. Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

Hyde came in and Mrs. Foreman hung up the phone. "Oh, Steven, Jackie's coming for a visit. She'll be staying in Laurie's room."

"Why can't she stay with Fez? She only been in Chicago three weeks."

"Well, I don't know but she wants to come and after all, no one has heard from her since she got there."

The next day, Jackie arrived just in time for lunch at the Foreman's.

"Oh, Jackie, I'm just so glad to see you again. You know, other than on the TV. All the ladies in my book club watch your show and I told them that I know you and they were so jealous. Aha-ha. You should've seen their faces. They are always talking about how pretty and funny you are."

Red looked over at Jackie on the other side of the table. "And the rest of the time they get drunk and talk about their husbands." He said. "It's like the female version of the Elk Lodge."

Kitty looked at her husband. "Now, that's not true. We have very meaningful discussions about literature."

"Oh, yeah?" Red said. "What's the book this month?"

Kitty looked at her husband and thought for a moment. "So, Jackie," she said, turning back to the girl to her left and ignoring the question. "How's the show going?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you guys about. The show's ―,"

The sliding glass door opened and Hyde walked in to see Jackie at the table.

"Hey, Steven."

"Oh, hey, I thought you weren't showing up until later."

"I took the morning bus." Jackie said.

"Well, that's great. So, I'll see ya." He walked to the basement, ignoring his lunch sitting on the table. The others sat in silence for a moment until Jackie excused herself and followed him.

Hyde was sitting in his seat watching TV and drinking a beer he'd just opened.

"Steven?" Jackie called from the turn in the stairs before descending further. "Can we talk?"

"Oh, you want to talk? Okay. Why don't we talk about how you made Fez lie to sneak out of town or we can talk about how no one's heard from you in three weeks and Fez spending is extra time at the record store because he's 'lonely'."

Hyde put his beer on the table and got up from is chair to look at her. "Or maybe we can talk about how you ran out of here and got on a bus to Chicago within hours of getting that phone call."

"Okay, you know what?" Jackie stepped around the couch to stand in front of Hyde. "I don't have to explain myself to you, okay? I thought we could have a clam, rational conversation without turning it in to a shouting match."

"Well, that's setting the bar a bit high. Everyone knows I'm not exactly the rational type; after all, I went out with you for years, and no one can claim they've ever seen you calm?"

"You don't have to be such a jerk!"

"You don't have to be such a bitch!"

"Jackie." Mrs. Foreman was kneeled on a high step looking anxious at the two bickering. "There's a man on the phone from the Point Place Cable for you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Foreman," Jackie said before picking up the phone and putting on a smile would fool anyone into thinking she hadn't just been yelling in anger. "This is Jackie Burkhart." She said cheerfully into the receiver. "Yes, of course. Hello, Mr. Johnson. Yes, there will be a meeting on Monday and we'll start shooting there on Tuesday. Yes, we'll deal with any last minute issues at the meeting. Alright, goodbye sir."

Jackie hung up the phone and her jaw clenched in a frown.

"So…" Hyde started. "Point Place Cable?"

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about before you went all crazy jerk on me." Jackie said. "I'm not back for a visit. I'm back for good."

"What?"

"I had a lot of time to think on the bus to Chicago and I realized that as important as this job is to me, I don't think I could handle living so far away from everyone I know. I mean, the only person I know there is Kelso and he's got Betsy and Brooke and his job. We'd hardly see each other.

"I convinced the producer that in order to prevent another drunken fiasco, it might be better to move the show out of the big city party scene, and since the network has a deal with the station here…"

Hyde began to process everything. "So, you convinced the producer to move the show to Point Place?"

Jackie nodded. "Yep."

"And your back to stay?"

"Yes. I called Fenton and he has an apartment available in a few days that I'm going to move in to." Jackie looked down at the floor and waited for Hyde to say something.

"Wow." _Bit anticlimactic,_ she thought. It was the only think he could think to say. It was as if he was having a wonderful dream that he would wake up from any moment. When nothing happened he decided to say something. "I'm sorry for being a jerk."

"Huge jerk," she corrected.

"Huge jerk," he nodded. There was a moment of silence until he spoke again. "I'm glad your back," he said.

"How glad?"

Hyde moved closer to her, a little cautious as if she still might disappear. He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked at her face through his shades, a view he'd missed far more than he realized. "Really glad." He responded before placing a gentle kiss on her lips. Jackie wrapped her arms around Steven's neck and responded, the gentle kiss quickly giving way to long forgotten passion. A mixture of desire, forgiveness and relief emanated from both as they explored each other as they'd done so many times before. They stayed in the basement the rest of the day.

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**So, that's it for now. Please, review and let me know what you think, even if it's only a word or two, taking the time would thrill me to no end. You might inspire me to keep writing if the reviews are good. Bad reviews are welcomed to though, as long as you tell me what's wrong and don't just say it's crap. That way I can take that into consideration when writing in the future.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**krysty508**


	14. Epilogue

**This is the Epilogue for the story, just to wrap everything up in a nice neat little package. I want to say thank's to Gloria for being the only person to review the last chapter and asking me to write more because to be honest I was about ready to stop the story right there. I hope you like this. It's purely fluff and really short, but I think it's pretty good anyway.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own That '70s Show.**

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Jackie and Hyde sat on the couch in her apartment entangled in a passionate make-out session. Things had been going well for the couple. Jackie had been back in town for a month now, filming the show at Point Place Cable, business at the record store was booming and things had finally settled.

Randy and Fez found out the couple was back together the first day when they walked in on them in the basement. Mr. and Mrs. Foreman found out shortly after that. They were still enjoying the retired life and now spent most of their time on the phone to Eric and Donna since the couple just became engaged and were planning to be married within six months. No rings were to be involved in the engagement or wedding ceremony.

Jackie and Hyde's current activities quickly elevated. He stood up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He carried her to the bedroom, checking to make sure the door to the apartment was locked on the way. Fez and Fenton had a habit of barging in other wise.

They were lying naked under the sheets in Jackie's bed, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking and drifting off into a soft slumber when Jackie spoke up.

"Steven?"

"Hmm?" His eyes were closed, his shades sat on the nightstand next to him and his arms wrapped around Jackie possessively.

"Why don't you move in here?"

Hyde cracked open an eye and looked at her. "But then I'd never get rid of you."

Jackie slapped him on the shoulder playfully and smiled. "I'm serious; you spend the night here often enough. Half your stuff is here already and the apartment's closer to the record store than the Foreman's."

Hyde propped himself up on his elbows to look as his girlfriend. "You're serious?"

"Yes, that's what I said," Jackie looked a little nervous as Hyde contemplated her proposition.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, I just think it would be a good idea of we lived together."

Hyde thought for a moment more and then nodded. "Okay, I'll move in on one condition."

Jackie's nerves came back. Hyde's conditions were usually pretty high. "Okay?" she said. "What?"

Hyde reached over to his side of the bed and rustled through his clothes. When he came back up he kept one hand behind him so Jackie couldn't see.

"You know," he said, "we've always been a little weird. You've always had certain expectations of me and I never lived up to any of them." She raised an eyebrow at his odd behavior.

"Well, I was gonna try to do this thing right, but you upped the ante with the moving in thing. So, I guess now would be the best time." He pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal a small black box. "I will only move in with you," he said, "if you agree to marry me." He opened the box and showed her a gold band with a 2 ct. princess cut diamond situated in the middle.

Jackie's jaw hung open speechless as watery eyes stared at the ring and then to Hyde's expectant face.

"Steven, I… are you sure?"

Hyde laughed. "Yeah, that's why I just asked you."

"But all those times you didn't want to talk about it or even think about it or refused to consider it a realistic possibility―"

"Well, a lot has changed and I'm actually hoping for it to be a very real possibility."

"Steven," happy tears rolled down her face as she kissed him tenderly. He took the ring out of the box and put it on her left ring finger. One of the few things she had always wanted she now had with the most amazing person she could imagine spending the rest of her life with. They started to kiss more passionately and decided in unison they could tell the rest of their friends the news tomorrow.

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**So, that is really the end. Thank You everyone who's read this story, an extra thanks to everyone whose reviewed this story, and an extra special thanks to Gloria who got me to finish it.**

**til next time inspiration strikes**

**~Krysty**


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